278 FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



Oaks are of ancient origin, remains of them found in the Cretaceous and 

 Tertiary periods showing that they once occupied a much more northern 

 habitat than their existing descendants do now. 



Approximately 300 species of oaks are known in the world. About 53 species 

 occur within the United States, and all except 3 or 4 of these are trees. Four- 

 teen tree oaks inhabit the Pacific region. All of these enter or belong wholly 

 to California, while one or two of them extend into the southern Rocky Moun- 

 tain region. This enumeration of species does not include numerous varieties 

 of oaks, nor hybrids, of which a good many have already been described. Others 

 are likely to be discovered. 



Valley Oak. 



Quercus lobata Nee. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS. 



Valley oak, so called because it grows chiefly in open valleys, is the largest 

 of western oaks. A striking characteristic is its scattered occurrence. Massive, 

 short-trunked individuals, with enormously broad, often symmetrical, round- 

 toped crowns, grow naturally far apart, forming picturesque vistas through 

 their open ranks. The huge trunk, with grayish, deeply furrowed bark, gives 

 off very large, rough-barked, arching limbs at from 8 to 25 feet from the ground, 

 the drooping lower branches sometimes reaching the ground. Occasional trees 

 have tall, undivided trunks, with small spreading or drooping short branches 

 in a narrow, dome-like crown ; generally, however, there is not more than a single 

 length of clear saw timber in the trunks. Height, from 60 to 75 feet, sometimes 

 80 or 100 feet, with a diameter of from 30 to 40 inches or more. As it straggles 

 up narrow valleys into the foothills it becomes small, often under 30 feet in 

 height and 1 foot through. Mature leaves (fig. 123), shed in autumn, are 

 variable in size and form on the same tree ; deep green and minutely hairy 

 (star-shaped hairs) on their top sides, lighter and minutely hairy beneath; 

 leaf stems also hairy. Acorns (fig. 123), matured in one season and sometimes 

 produced in very large quantities." are also variable in size ; bright chestnut 

 brown when ripe. Wood, pale dull brown, very brittle, firm, often cross-grained 

 and difficult to split or work. On account of its poor timber form the trees are 

 rarely if ever cut for anything but fuel, for which, however, they are much 

 used. 



Longevity. — Nothing is known of the extreme age attained, but it is believed 

 to reach at least from 300 to 400 years. One tree 21i inches in diameter showed 

 an age of 57 years. 



RANGE. 



Western California. — Interior plains and valleys of coast ranges and western foot- 

 hills of Sierras from below mouth of Pitt River on upper Sacramento River, at the north, 

 where it grows from sea level to 2,000 feet, southward to Tejon Pass. Tehachapi Valley, 

 Antelope Valley (west end of Mojave Desert), and across southern coast mountains; 

 here growing at elevation of 100 to 4,500 feet, and reaching its southernmost limits in 

 Santa Monica and Lamanda Park (within the city of Los Angeles i. Abundant in Sacra- 

 mento Valley, extending northward to Anderson on the river and Shasta (town) in 

 western foothills (Shasta County), reaching also valleys of lower Sierra foothills. Both 

 sides Sacramento River and tributaries in Tehama, Glenn, and Butte counties. Northern 

 coast ranges noted in Stony Creek National Forest northward to Gravelly Valley and 

 other streams ; in Mendocino County northward to Round Valley, Cahto, and Laytons- 



a In some parts of the tree's range the sweet acorns are gathered and fed to swine in 

 lieu of grain. 



